CALIFORNIAN CESU STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING SYNOPSIS OF MEETING AGREEMENTS AND OUTCOMES OCTOBER 28 AND 29, 2003

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1 CALIFORNIAN CESU STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING SYNOPSIS OF MEETING AGREEMENTS AND OUTCOMES OCTOBER 28 AND 29, 2003 POST MEETING ACTION ITEMS Item Who What When (Resources Needed) 1 Babs Mtg. Minutes w/in 10 days 2 All Partners Contact Information (Sponsored November 30, 2003 Research Contacts) 3 Campus Contacts Contracts/Grants Info November 30, Babs Existing briefing materials to ASAP steering committee 5 Campus contacts CESU Article for Contracts/Grants ASAP Newsletter 6 Barbara Web Committee Establish by February Executive Committee Quarterly meeting Meet by February 8 Strategic Planning Group 9 Steering Committee and Managers Committee Develop draft strategic plan Plan due in D.C. July 1, 2004, draft plan should be available to the steering committee for review and comment by March 30, 2004 Meet annually 10 Managers Committee Identify agency education and training needs, convey to group. 11 Managers Committee Develop ideas/mechanisms for multi-agency integration of needs and projects. 12 Administrative host (Babs) Develop a list serve, set-up and then send to steering committee members, control point for adding folks to the communications list will be the steering committee representative. Plan annual meeting for October 2004 ASAP ASAP ASAP MEETING SYNOPSIS: DISCUSSIONS AND KEY AGREEMENTS A. CA-CESU STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING GOALS: 1. Develop and agree to our role and mission. (section B) 2. Agree to an annual plan of work with first year goals. (section D) 3. Establish our organizational structure and operating procedures including: a. establishment of an executive committee (section C2) b. establishment of an agency managers committee (section C4) c. empowering a group to develop our 3-5 year strategic plan due July, 2004 (section C5) d. developing our policies for addition of new partners (section E) R:\CESU - Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit\Strategic Planning Meeting Oct2003\CESU Strategic Planning Meeting Key Agmts and Action Items.doc 1

2 4. Discuss ways to ensure the timely, efficient flow of communication, projects and dollars in and among partner institutions, principal investigators, students, and agency personnel. (section F, G) B. CA-CESU MISSION STATEMENT Review and discussion, mission statement as drafted adopted by the group: The mission of the Californian CESU is to provide research, technical assistance and education across the biological, physical, social, and cultural sciences to address natural and cultural resource management issues at multiple scales and in an ecosystem context in California and nationally as appropriate. C. CESU Organizational Structure/Function the CESU as a Virtual Organization C.1. Key Agreements The entire group (all steering committee members) should get notice of all committee meetings and agendas. Standard operating procedure for membership on the steering committee and/or the managers committee is that membership is determined by the agency/university authority designating a specific representative. For UC campuses the Council of Vice Chancellors for Research will be responsible for making the relevant appointments of campus representatives. For CSU s SFSU and CSU-Fresno the AVP for Research is responsible. For CSU-LA the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research is responsible. Once the steering committee representative is identified this representative will be responsible for passing on all information regarding the CESU to the relevant persons on their campus. The steering committee representative will identify the Sponsored Research Office contact on their campus. Each committee shall utilize the set time response to manage progress and nonresponders. i.e. Communications will include Please respond by date X, if we do not hear from you by that date we assume that you are in agreement with the action and we will proceed with implementation. The CESU should function as a community of expertise and a clearing house for resource managers. C.2. Executive Committee Composition: Committee is to be appointed by the Steering Committee and include 2 federal agency representatives, 1 CSU representative, 1 UC representative and the administrative host representative (Barbara Allen-Diaz). Roles and Responsibilities: The executive committee will oversee the day-to-day activities and operations of the CESU. The executive committee will function as a point of contact for the CESU. The committee should meet quarterly. Current Members: Jim Shevock*, NPS Barbara Allen-Diaz, UCP R:\CESU - Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit\Strategic Planning Meeting Oct2003\CESU Strategic Planning Meeting Key Agmts and Action Items.doc 2

3 Carlos Robles, CSU-LA Debbie Elliott-Fisk, Jim Quinn, (or?) UCD Other federal agency representative TBN* *All attending federal partners felt that their interests would be adequately represented by Jim Shevock, NPS. C.3. Steering Committee Composition: 1 designee from each partner, n=18 at this time Roles and Responsibilities: Meets annually. If there is a steering committee vote then each entity has one vote (note: It was agreed that each individual UC campus has one vote.) C.4. Managers Committee Composition: One representative from each of the federal agency partners. Roles and Responsibilities: Each CESU will organize a mangers committee composed of field managers and additional representatives from participating federal agencies. The committee will provide advice and guidance to the CESU, review strategic and annual work plans, and assist in evaluating CESU performance. The managers committee should meet at least annually in conjunction with the steering committee meeting. Current members: Ed Lorentzen, BLM, Chair Rory Wetberg, NPS Sandy Olliges, NASA Carol DeMuth, (Director, USDA-FS, PSW Research Station, vacant) George Matanga, USBR TBN, USGS, BRD Ex officio, Barbara Allen-Diaz, UCB Administrative host C.5. Strategic Planning Group (SPG) Composition: The Californian CESU Strategic Planning Group will be composed of 4-6 people representing the following mix, 1-2 federal, 1 CSU, 2 UC, 1 administrative. The composition of the committee should represent the regional diversity of California. Roles and Responsibilities: Each CESU will develop a multi-year strategic plan so that participating federal agencies can effectively allocate resources to meet both immediate and long-term needs. Sharing of resources, collaborative projects and flexibility to meet emerging needs will be encouraged. Science planning leads to improved research, more usable knowledge for resource/environmental managers and reduced costs. The strategic plan should be a framework/overarching strategy for the CA-CESU and should cover the period of the agreement through year 5. R:\CESU - Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit\Strategic Planning Meeting Oct2003\CESU Strategic Planning Meeting Key Agmts and Action Items.doc 3

4 The strategic plan is due at the national CESU office July 1, The draft plan is to be circulated to all members of the steering committee for review and input. Adequate time should be allowed for review, comment, revision and approval. The strategic planning group will disband after completion of the plan. The SPG should develop by-laws for the group as necessary incorporating key agreements adopted during this meeting as necessary. The 2 nd year POW will include plan to solicit other national agencies on national council. The 2 nd year POW will develop criteria for inclusion of new partner institutions; considerations include role of institution in meeting goals of CA-CESU, remaining inclusive but not unwieldy. Current members: Craig Moritz, UCB Sam Traina, UCM, Chair Jim Shevock, NPS Gretchen LeBuhn, SFSU Babs Lane, UCB C.6. Californian CESU Website Development Committee Composition: Volunteer Roles and Responsibilities: To be determined. Current members: Dan Costa, UCSC Jim Quinn, UCD Jim Shevock, NPS Babs Lane, UCB Barbara Allen-Diaz, UCB Californian CESU website content ideas the CA-CESU agreement operating guidance memo for UC operating guidance memo for CSUs or similar if available contacts for partners (federal and university) how to s e-brochure canned poster database of projects D. CA-CESU Year 1 Plan of Work (POW) Introduction of draft year 1 POW, noted that everything in draft is negotiable. Discussion of draft year 1 POW and desired changes, additions, edits Agreement that meeting leaders would redraft for review of group. Revisions were reviewed on day 2, POW agreed to with specific edits. R:\CESU - Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit\Strategic Planning Meeting Oct2003\CESU Strategic Planning Meeting Key Agmts and Action Items.doc 4

5 Final revisions to be accomplished and POW to be sent to group electronically. E. Adding New Partners to the CA-CESU A draft policy was sent with participants for their review the evening of the 28 th. The group reviewed Article IIID1 of the CA-CESU agreement. They discussed the merits and impacts of additional members. Key agreements: The UC campuses need to develop a mechanism to speak with one voice on new members. Any federal agency that is a member of the National CESU is acceptable as a member of the CA-CESU. New members should meet the needs of the strategic plan and the needs of our partner agencies. In the case of a new university or NGO materials to be distributed to the steering committee members with 45 days to vote as follows: YES, NO, No answer = YES, I need more information with specific request and timeline. Presentation is required at the next steering committee meeting w/informational Q&A (revise 2a); delete 2b, defer & revisit year 2 or 3. CSU Humboldt and Cal Poly SLO were vetted by the group as eligible to present materials for consideration. F. CA-CESU Agreement Modifications or Task Orders Areas of concern/need included: 1. How are agency needs articulated? 2. How are research groups organized? 3. How are projects funded? 4. How are results shared? 5. What is the role of the CESU web-site? Repository for explicit guidelines, agency links, forms 6. Develop an annual plan. 7. Explore and define what collaborative means for CA-CESU. Fundamentally, needs are agency defined based on agency priorities. Agencies are open to suggestion and inquiry but must work within established processes for program development. A variety of ways in which a project could be initiated were described: Federal partner knows who they want to do the work based on expertise, etc. Federal partner can put out a CA-CESU request for proposals. University partner can approach federal agency with ideas. Federal partner can contact university partner and seek a recommendation. It was noted that effective communication of needs and capabilities is essential. Each task order or agreement modification requires at a minimum a budget, project period, and scope of work. The university partner requirements for budget, project period, scope of work and internal routing and compliance forms were discussed. R:\CESU - Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit\Strategic Planning Meeting Oct2003\CESU Strategic Planning Meeting Key Agmts and Action Items.doc 5

6 The necessity of informing sponsored agreements offices of the relevant CESU agreement number was discussed. Funding works the same way it would for any other cooperative agreement with the federal government, but the CESU agreement has already been competed, negotiated and executed so the funding process for individual projects should be expedited, with the CESU agreement essentially functioning like a master agreement. The variability in how each federal agency might approach forms was discussed, along with an introduction to the federal standard forms. G. CA-CESU Program Priorities Over the course of discussions on the 28 th and 29 th many general thematic ideas were discussed including but not limited to: water non-native species adaptive management and ecological restoration historical and cultural resources air borne impacts training/education/workforce development/under-represented groups engage in outreach to student groups on campus to increase training and opportunities for under-represented groups in federal agencies investigate the impacts of policy decisions in environmental planning on underrepresented groups in the context of changing demographics within the state Review of data from responses to pre-meeting survey. Discussion of agency and university roles. Discussion of emergent themes. Project brainstorm highlighted overarching themes, need for information networking and development of specific projects. CA-CESU Communications Brainstorming Ideas and issues for future discussion/action. During the meeting there were many good ideas that warrant further discussion or future action. In order to preserve them for the record and so that they can inform our discussions at future meetings they are listed below. each partner gets one rep, but meetings open, people can request to be added develop an e-brochure in.pdf format work plan item 8 develop strategies to identify expertise, the web alone is not acceptable letter Dean s and Director s (UC) type memo to communicate across campuses meetings/informal communications press releases bullet point examples of successful projects try to work with deans and departments to keep up-to-date on new faculty remind sponsored projects offices of the agreement canned poster about CESU to go to meetings R:\CESU - Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit\Strategic Planning Meeting Oct2003\CESU Strategic Planning Meeting Key Agmts and Action Items.doc 6

7 a symposium on Expertise and Needs for all partners so we can get to know each others needs and capabilities campus steering committee reps to explain CESU to relevant Chairs on their campus seminars where federal reps can come and talk to university partners about needs video-distance learning the national council has a traveling exhibit administrative host to send steering committee members s as POW items are accomplished (this information should go to the steering committee rep and the SPO rep if available) have SPOs list CESU opportunities as a general item with reference to the website to see specific opportunities R:\CESU - Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit\Strategic Planning Meeting Oct2003\CESU Strategic Planning Meeting Key Agmts and Action Items.doc 7